Ask Alice
by SheRanInPatches
Summary: The wall splattered red behind him but her attention was fixed on that sickle moon grin that spread across his face as Cheshire's lips moved. "Finally," he smiled, "Alice. Welcome back." Crossover. AU. May leave it as a one shot, depending on response. T for safety, swearing, substance abuse, death and violence.


**Story: Ask Alice**

**Author: SheRanInPatches**

**Category: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" -AU**

**Disclaimer: I don't own "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" or "Alice in Wonderland (2010)". All I own is the plot and my OCs. Really, I thought that would have been obvious. **

**^O_O^**

There was something wet and dry on her face.

Wet, because she could feel it cool as they (He? She? It?) blew on it.

Dry because that area crackled and hurt when she grimaced.

"Don't do that," a voice chided her softly, then sighed when she did it again. "It'll hurt more if you do that. It's caking up. You'll need to wash it off."

_Wash _**_what_**_ off? What's wrong with me?_ She moved her lips to ask, but it hurt to part them and she stopped abruptly with a pained cry of surprise. Something- _a hand_- she realized, clamped down on her mouth, though not as forcefully as she'd expected and another stroked her hair. The action was hesitant, slow and choppy even - as if the person doing it had never tried this before. The voice was back. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So stupid, I'm so stupid! I should've warned you. Should've known you'd try to speak. Hush now. Hush."

She did not _want_ to hush. But if it would get them off of her… She forced herself to relax and she felt the person (H_im? Her? It?) _relax as well.

"That's it." The relief at her compliance was obvious. "Now," and the hesitance returned "could you. Could you open your eyes?"

_Eyes? Open my eyes?_ A giddy voice inside her, one she couldn't really place, asked. Why not?

But as the seconds passed she realized it wouldn't be that easy.

Initially it felt as if she had forgotten how. Silly really. It was the first thing a human child did after all. The first sign of life after the initial wail, announcing its arrival. But then she realized it was something else. Something was actually hindering her already tired lids from prying themselves apart. A dry, crackling something. And when she fought it- _it hurt_.

"Nngh!" It was pitiful really, that that low, guttural sound was all she could manage. But it was either that or try to speak again- and that was an experience she did not want to relive any time soon.

"Oh no, no, _no_." Disappointment, that was the emotion present in her companions voice now. That and _something_. She didn't know what but it made the giddy part of her subconscious shriek and made her want to laugh a strange, almost frightened laugh.

_What?_ But the voice was talking again and she switched off her inner monologue to pay attention. After all, she was a good girl, and good girls listened when people spoke to them and curtsied while they thought. After all, it saved time.

_…what?_

"I was hoping you'd be able to see at least. I didn't want to start without you being able to see." She really needed to understand what her companion was feeling at the moment, it seemed very important that she do so. Petulance, was that the word she was looking for? Or was it pity? Was there a difference between the two? She couldn't make any sense of it. Words failed her and swam around in her mind. Really, the state she was in right now, her sister would've wrung her hands in despair.

…her sister…

Eyes flew open and tears gathered. It stung. It _stung_. But that didn't matter.

Her hand flew out to catch a bright red vest. Her eyes hardened as they met startled red eyes and a nervous, twitching nose. A furry collar bristled.

"Where. Is. My. _Sister_."

A moment longer he was still.

And then the man- _White Rabbit_, wasn't it- he smiled.

"Why, Hello Alice."

For whatever reason, her eyes flew to the doorknob.

She blinked.

And that's when the world exploded.

**^O_O^**

Well not really.

Or at least, that's what it felt like. Afterwards, she realized that that was actually a very accurate summary of the incident. Because when the doors burst open like that, they signaled a chain of events that- but we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's get back shall we?

"Hello Alice" he had said, and that had triggered something in her. An instant awareness of her surroundings flooded her senses and she seemed to take it all in at once. A poorly lit room, with the same cracked, once white tiles lining the walls and floor. Scraps of white garments with straps and buckles lay tossed in a corner. A flickering bulb dangled from the ceiling and cast a sickly yellow light on the whole sorry scene. It looked, much like the bulb flickered Her eyes had been drawn automatically to the doorknob, and then several things happened at once.

The door flew open and she kneed the- _Rabbit_ in the stomach, keeping a firm grip on that pretty red vest, causing him to jerk forward. Something pale and red streamed in to the room and it took a moment for her to realize that they were _people_- pale and bloodless but draped in blood red clothes that at once stood in sharp contrast with their complexion and yet also suited it. Their faces were covered with thin, pale masks. She twisted the wheezing man around in a choke hold. Her heart was racing, her ears ringing and the giddy voice in her head was nearly hysterical now, so she was surprised to hear the calm, almost bored sound that came from her mouth.

"Hold it Oysters."

And miraculously, they did.

For a moment, she and the pale, sickly people eyed each other. She counted twenty of them, but were there anymore outside?

_Why don't you ask? _The giddy voice questioned and she thought, _why not indeed?_

"How many more?"

Surprisingly, it was the Rabbit who answered with a wheezy little laugh. "It's just you isn't it boys? You got here so fast because you were on patrol. Am I right?"

No response came from the pale figures and the Rabbit wheezed again. "I bet he doesn't even know you're here. It's all right." He held up his hands. "She's… well, I'm taking her to see the Queen."

That worked- if only a little. There was a slight shudder in the sea of red and white and as the Rabbit kept talking she saw now that the masks they were wearing didn't completely hide their. They hid the features, yes, the noses and the shapes of the lips and the colors of their eyes- but a gesture or a spasm violent enough could be seen. But even those spasms were uniform and unanimous. The same "Oh," of muted shock, the same jerk of the head. Except one. As she tuned the Rabbit out, she glimpsed one of the crowd, in the far right corner, right next to the door. That one did not move. And if she didn't know any better, his attention was not on the Rabbit as much as it was focused on her.

It irked her, but she refused to let him unnerve her. _Smug idiot,_ the giddy voice in her head agreed, and she focused on the remainder of the Oysters. But as she stared resolutely away, she could have sworn that under the mask, she saw what looked suspiciously like a grin spread over the last one's face.

_Silly old Cat._ She thought venomously, then she stopped.

_Wait, where did that _**_come_**_ from?_

Her eyes widened as memories rushed to her mind.

_Trees. Too many of them, the roots tangled up together, making her trip._

_"Stop running you're going to fall!"_

Liza? Her tired mind questioned, as she tried to grasp for her sister.

_Why must you make things so difficult Ali-_

_Watch out! "_Alice Watch Out!"

The last one wasn't in her mind she realized as she blinked and dove to the side instinctively, dragging the Rabbit along as something black whizzed over their heads.

On the floor, she scrambled to get up and heard the Rabbit shriek.

"They shot at me. They shot at **me**!"

"Oh shut up Rabbit." A bored voice muttered and she jerked up to locate it. It was comparatively calmer now, but it had been the same voice that had shouted out the warning a few seconds prior. The Oysters were also confused it appeared, because they were alternating between locating the owner of the voice and staring at their comrade who was looking at the revolver in his hand. If Oysters got surprised or shocked, she would have to bet that this was how they looked. The poor thing looked completely flabbergasted at his actions, as if breaking from ranks and making a decision on one's own was something he had never expected from anyone- let alone himself. It was simply not done. And his compatriots seemed to agree with him on that. Two grabbed his arms and he looked at them for a moment before hanging his head and letting them drag him past the staring Oysters, out the door and away. As their footsteps faded away, the other Oysters looked at each other for a moment then back at her. Squaring their shoulders, they took a step and regrouped until there they were; same perfect formation as before. As if nothing had changed. Not all of them though. The laughing one- she was sure it was him- stayed where he was, by the door. As if he had met her eye, he gave a barely discernible nod. And in that moment she knew who had warned her.

Slowly, as if on automatic, she got up, eyes on the Oysters following her every move.

Somewhere, a clock chimed and her ally from the back leaped up and over his comrades and in a single, fluid motion hurled something at her..

A second passed.

A white mask fell to the floor.

And then the Oysters raised their revolvers as she raised her hand to catch the loaded gun thrown at her face.

And yes, _that_ could have been the explosion I was talking about before. Because from the moment she released the safety, something exploded inside of her, bringing down the white walls she'd built so carefully. A locked door flying off its hinges, that's what it was like. The giddy voice vanished and things got deadly quiet as the world around her slowed down. Rabbit scuttled under the bed as their new ally landed gracefully where he'd been before.

"Shall we?" a droll voice asked and she could almost hear his smile. Because really, what did he think she was going to say, no?

She looked at the Oysters. They wouldn't do it. But a part of her that sounded suspiciously like Liza wanted to give them a fighting chance.

So she took a moment as she aimed. Long enough to give them warning.

"Run."

To their credit, they did just that. They ran.

_At her_.

"Should have been specific darling," the new friend murmured as he plunged forward to meet them. She caught a blur of pink and a bright smile on his face as he passed her and four men in mob outfits in that same sickening red (Pack men, her mind chimed in) ran in the door.

Well, she mused as she took aim, she _had _warned them.

**^O_O^**

"What's the password?" He asked only half jokingly as they moved in almost perfect sync, eliminating the wave of loose Pack Men and Oysters.

She almost lost her calm mask at that but used the attack of a particularly ugly Ace of Spades as a delaying tactic. The Pack Men were better trained and had the added advantage of being able to think for themselves. It took a second to aim properly and that was long enough to bring the answer to her lips. After all, it had been all they had been calling her.

"Hello Alice," she said before she pulled the trigger to end the Ace's misery.

The wall splattered red behind him but her attention was fixed on that sickle moon grin that spread across his face as Cheshire's lips moved.

"Finally," he smiled, "Alice. Welcome back." and as she shot down a particularly obstinate Oyster she heard the stealth expert's sigh of relief. "Still got it." But there was still tenseness to his stance, rigidity in his lips.

She ducked to the side, almost by instinct as he leaped at and past her, driving his Katana through an Oyster. From the sounds of it, it had gone through his head.

_Why do they keep calling me that?_

Oh dear, the giddy voice was back, but she forced it down as she fired another round in to the figure coming in the door.

"I thought we'd lost you," he admitted from his position behind her, his face hidden as he straightened up from the crouch he'd been in. Involuntarily, she felt the need to stroke his messy pink hair. Dear Chess. He would never admit this in public she knew, not Cheshire. She couldn't remember how or why she knew this, but she and Cheshire were close. And something told her that he might stab her in the gut if the situation demanded it but he'd never attack her from behind or leave her without some sort of help.

So it was with that faith in her heart that she snorted and replied,

"You wouldn't be that lucky, partner." And as the words left her lips she realized that they had been the right words to say. Not because of the sigh of relief that left his lips. But because, she realized, as she blasted a Two of Diamonds through the wall, they were true. That's what they were, they were partners. And with that relationship established and the cause for their mutual concern categorized, labeled and ascertained, she found it easier to breathe in his presence, and just like that they were back in sync. In fact, she realized as they neared the door, better than before.

"Hey," he called softly, interrupting her musings.

She flipped around to meet him and caught the tell tale maniacal glint in those dark eyes just in time to drop down before the glistening blade swung up to spike the approaching Three of Diamonds behind her.

"I could have handled that."

He smiled again. "And I was supposed to stand by and let you dirty your pretty little hands? Hatter would kill me. Besides," he jerked his head distastefully towards the bed that she'd forgotten, "_he_ may be a double crossing, spineless little buck toothed freak, but he's _our_ double crossing, spineless little buck toothed freak. He's one of our own, and Hatter wouldn't much like either of us leaving him behind. Though, having you back might soften the blow."

His smile was the same thin sickle moon grin as before, but she could detect a bit of warmth there, carefully hidden, but apparently, she knew where to look to locate the chinks in his armor. She rolled her eyes at that thought and as she made to get their companion, she caught his smile stretching a little wider, all the way to his eyes.

She did not try to match it. Truly, she considered as she blasted the last stirring Oyster, she doubted anyone could.

"Shall we get our sniveling friend and leave?"

Hidden from him though, her lips _did_ curl a little as she grabbed the shivering bundle of the fur and silk that was their Rabbit and dragged him, squealing and muttering apologies, out from under the bed. Suddenly, the day seemed better and she felt a wave of optimism pass through her as he helped her steady their friend and drag him out the door. She could get through this. She felt it in her heart now, sure of it.

Dear _dear_ Chess.

...how did she know him, though?

"Come on Alice."

... _and why did they keep calling her that?_

**^O_O^**

**Sometimes my stories make sense. This may or may not be one of those times. And sometimes they get messy. With my love of violence, this is definitely one of those times.**

**I shall now attempt to actually publish this by ceasing my typing.**

**Till next time!**

**-She.**


End file.
